My own little Lily,

     My dear little sweetheart I own that I have been careless about not answering your dear little letter.  But I know my Lily will forgive me when I tell her what has been the cause of my not answering & partly of not coming to see you, Lily darling.  Will Parker was the best of friends to me & I loved him almost as a brother  I could not see mutch difference. And I know he thought more of me than anybody else besides his family.  For he has told me so many times. And the death of my friend in any way would have grieved me.  How mutch more so when he met his death as he did. 
     God help him I hope he is at peace with his maker & free from all sorrow & that we will one day meet in that beautiful home above.  He was certainly one of the most noble young men I ever knew.  He had his faults as we all have, but there are but a few young men such as he was.  It is the hardest thing for me to realize that the brave & noble fellow is dead.  But it is a stern reality, And may God help us all to realize that we too may soon be called to give an account of ourselves.